My Freedoms!

"Change does not roll on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.  And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom.  A man can't ride you unless your back is bent."

Question: How are you working for freedom? 

What a good question.  One you should ask yourself everyday as an American.  If we are the land of the free, we must make sure we are free.  Every. Day.

I am raising two children with my values and trying my damndest to teach them more than I knew before they head out into the world.  The world is large, the world is full of Different, the world is not a happy wonderful place, the world has happy wonderful places that are yours to find.

I fight the good fight against velociraptors. Awareness is key.

I march for nonviolence.

I continue my education and seek out diversity and diverse situations.

I call my congressmen.  I watch the reliable news. I think critically.  I try to follow my civic duties.

I practice listening to others.

I use my freedoms!  Use them or lose them.

Huh.  How do women fight this attack on our bodies? How do we fight the freedom of reproductive rights?  We use birth control.  Do we all need to get preggers and then get an abortion?  Maybe just the women who have gotten them speak out more, as they feel comfortable.  We, the women (and men) who have not gotten one, should make space and listen to their voices.  Show the country that it is a right we use and do not want to lose.

I used my right to choose twice.  Twice I chose to keep my children.  Well, three times, but once science chose against the child (the doctor called it Spontaneous Miscarriage).  I was not forced to keep them...it was a choice.  An easy one, but still one.  It is my and any woman's right to choose how she treats her body.

I fear the attack on my daughter's reproductive rights.  I fear the attack on my children's climate and environment.  It is a fear I can touch.  I have never felt such fear before.  Am I old now and it happens to everyone? Or am I living in a time of fear? 

"'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo. 'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."  J.R.R. Tolkien

I think I shall embroider that into a pillow.